cold as ice
by keem
Summary: Knuckles wants what he can't have.


She's Sonic's girl. She always has been.

That doesn't keep him from noticing her, though. He's had his eye on her for quite a while. He has kept to himself about it, largely ignored the feelings altogether - denial, maybe. She's Sonic's girl, even if Sonic doesn't want her. She's an untouchable.

But he wants her.

It's a slow ache that rolls through him, even now, as he watches her; she's unfairly beautiful, and vibrant and bright and everything he never had. She's delicious and enticing and something altogether undescribable, words dancing on the tip of his tongue that he can't quite formulate. She's all hearts and flowers and sunshine - she's perfect, and he can't have her.

Her head is turned to one side, hair tussled. Locks of her bangs fall across her brow, disorganized - he never expected her to be such a restless sleeper. The sheets are pulled tight around her, and she turns her head - one brilliant emerald optic emerges from beneath those dark, exotic eyelashes as they flutter open, and she stares him full on in the face, unabashedly. Brazen. He likes that.

"Hey Knuckles," she says, and it's not a slow drawl; she's wide awake now, alert, as if she had never been asleep. But he knows she has been - he had been watching her dream. "How long have I been out?"

"Two hours, maybe," he murmurs, and one hand absently moves to push the bubblegum locks from her eyes. He draws back suddenly, shifting so that he can hide his hands. His face is apologetic.

She doesn't notice. Or if she does, she doesn't let on. "That was some party, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." The words are slow to form; his throat is dry. He tries to clear it. "It was... something else."

He has the party to thank for this entire conversation; this chance to be so close to her. He has the party to thank for the drinks and intimacy and the sheer _wrongness_ and peversity of it; the chance for a cheap thrill. He loves it, and hates it alternatively; his mind is still a little fuzzy from the effects of the alcohol and he feels depression starting to infiltrate his senses. Soon she'll be gone, and he'll be alone again. But he got his chance; he got his one-night stand he so desired.

Amy turns away from him, to the blinking digital numbers of his bedside clock. She makes a face, and then rolls out of bed in disdain. She scuttles around in an awkward crouch, trying to gather her belongings. "I should probably get going."

"... Yeah," the words are hard for him. "Yeah... you probably should."

"Knuckles." She secures the buckle to her boot and adjusts her skirt, standing up straight and tall. She's looking down at him, from his awkward position on the bed; he's looking back at her but not quite, his gaze lingering somewhere on the ceiling. Taking in everything, but absorbing nothing. Despondent. "Knux, it's been fun," the nickname sounds strange coming from her. "It's been a_lot _of fun," she clarifies, with a little laugh. "But..." her demeanor changes, and she looks at him as though she's truly sorry. "We were drunk;_I_ was drunk. And you know... we can't do this again. But.. but I appreciate it, Knuckles. I.. I really needed this."

He doesn't even nod. "I understand."

"Well..." she stands there, uncomforably, then moves to the bedside table and grabs her purse. "I guess I'll see you around then, okay? We should do lunch sometime." She's doing a terrible job at salvaging his feelings, and he knows she knows he knows it. Amy moves quickly for the exit. "I'll talk to you later, Knuckles. And thank you."

She closes the door to the bedroom behind her, and he hears her footsteps down the hall, through the living room, and finally she leaves his apartment entirely. He's left in the darkness in her absence, staring at the door whence she came.

Knuckles swallows. He hurts all over, and he hates it. The vulnerability is there, at the fringes of his heart and picking at it, and it's painful. Because he had her - for that brief, shining, beautiful moment - she was his and his' alone.

But it's gone now. And so is she. Because no matter what happens, at the end of the night she's still Sonic's girl.


End file.
